| Event Name: | Traditional Russian Songs |
| Description: | Performance
Traditional Russian Songs
PUSHKIN CLUB PROGRAMME
A lecture and concert by Polina Prouskova
Polina Prouskova, ethnomusicologist and a performer of Russian traditional songs, introduces the audience to Russian traditional music and guides it through various genres and local traditions.
Russia was once a landscape of manifold and lively local musical traditions, mostly extinct today. The intense, open, endlessly flowing sound of a village song that developed and crystallized through centuries informed many Russian composers from Glinka to Stravinsky. In today’s Russia more than 2 million people are involved into the folklore revival movement.
In live performance and by means of a multimedia presentation I shall introduce you to the main musical characteristics of Russian traditional music and guide you through various genres and local traditions. You will learn to “see off the Arrow” to make sure that the spring season is followed by the summer; encounter with an astounding lament of a young bride from Northern Russia; re-live a slowly developing drama of a protracted lyric song with generations of Russian villagers; experience the difference between the official Soviet style (narodnaya muzyka) and the village originals (folklore) on the example of dance songs and chastushki. I shall also illustrate how I use all this diversity in my performance in Western Europe: reconstructing tradition with a folklore ensemble; as a basis for a jazz/drum&bass formation; in a musical dialogue of religions.
POLINA PROUTSKOVA has been involved with Russian traditional music for many years as performer, researcher, musical director and lecturer. She received training in Russian traditional singing at the Mussorgsky College of Music in St. Petersburg. She conducted field trips in various regions of rural Russia, where she learnt songs from the old women and documented their way of life. She worked in music archives worldwide in search of old Russian recordings.
In 2004 in Berlin Polina founded ensemble POLYNUSHKA dedicated to traditional music from Russian villages. In 2008 Polynushka received the German Music Critics Award for its CD “Authentic Russian Folklore in Urban Culture”. Polynushka has put Russian traditional music on the map in Western Europe; its performances attract young audiences, Russian and non-Russian alike.
Currently Polina is a PhD student at Goldsmiths, University of London, working on the subject of computational ethnomusicology. |
| Type of Event: | Foreign Culture Events |
| Event Agenda: | Language: In English
Tickets: £7, conc. £5 (Friends of Pushkin House, students and OAPs) |
| Event Location: | PUSHKIN HOUSE |
| Event City: | London |
| Type of Venue: | Cultural Center |
| Station/Stop: | |
| Directions: | The Main Entrance is located on Bloomsbury Way, across the road from the Swedenborg Society building.
The nearest tube stations are Holborn, Tottenham Court Road and Russell Square.
There is a secure public car park in Bloomsbury Square. |
| Event Start Date | 29-Nov-11 |